An aircraft is typically towed using a tow vehicle to move the aircraft at airports or maintenance facilities, or on a manufacturing floor during manufacturing of the aircraft. In an example, a tow vehicle may have a tow bar that is coupled to the nose landing gear of the aircraft to enable the tow vehicle to move and maneuver the aircraft. The tow bar may operate as a mechanical fuse. In other words, the tow bar would break if the force or torque on the tow bar, and thus on the aircraft, exceeds a threshold so as to preclude damage to nose landing gear of the aircraft.
Recently, there has been a trend to replace towing vehicles having tow bars with tow bar-less tow vehicles (TLTVs) that use a sensor array in lieu of a mechanical fuse to prevent damage to the nose landing gear of aircraft. A TLTV may have a controller that monitors or receives, from force and torque sensors, information that indicates the force and torque applied to the nose landing gear. If the force or torque exceeds a predetermined threshold force or torque, the controller may stop the TLTV from moving or otherwise stop the TLTV from applying a force or torque to the aircraft (e.g., releases a holding device that engages with the nose landing gear). In this manner, the damage to the nose landing gear may be avoided.
However, if the sensors do not provide accurate measurements, the TLTV might not operate properly, and damage to the nose landing gear might occur. Calibrating the sensors on a periodic basis may facilitate maintaining their accuracy and preclude damage to the nose landing gear.
To accurately calibrate the sensors, it is desirable to have the sensors operate in a similar environment to the actual environment in which the TLTV operates. In other words, to accurately calibrate the sensors, it is desirable to have the TLTV engaged with an aircraft to simulate realistic loads that the sensor would experience during actual operation.
However, calibrating possibly inaccurate sensor using a real aircraft may result in damage to the aircraft, which could be costly to repair. Further, using an aircraft for testing and calibration might result in flight delays if the aircraft is in operation, or may result in manufacturing delay if the aircraft is in the process of being manufactured.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an apparatus and system that can accurately mock a nose landing gear of an aircraft so as to test, calibrate, and certify TLTVs. Such systems and apparatus could also be used to train new operators that will operate the TLTVs without using an expensive aircraft for the training.